On Sunday and Monday, May 15-16, IDI will host an international conference on the role of think tanks in democratic societies. Entitled What Do Think Tanks Do?, the two-day conference will explore the challenges and issues surrounding the role of think tanks in formulating public policy. International participants include:

• Prof. Donald Abelson, Director, Canada-US Institute, Canada
• Mr. Steven Bennett, Vice-President and COO, The Brookings Institution, USA
• Mr. Daniel S. Gaylin, Executive VP, National Opinion Research Center, USA
• Dr. Barbara Lippert, Director of Research, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Germany
• Prof. James G. McGann, Assistant Director, International Relations Program; Director, Think Tanks and Civil Societies; University of Pennsylvania, USA
• Mr. Arch Puddington, Director of Research, Freedom House, USA
• Ms. Ayşe Üstünel Yircali, The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, Turkey

The conference will be broadcast live in English on the IDI website on May 15-16 between 9:30-17:30 Jerusalem time. Tune in for the live broadcast, or visit our website for an archived version at your convenience.

A detailed conference program is available here.

Warm regards from Jerusalem,

Barak Cohen
Director, International Communications
The Israel Democracy Institute
+ 972-2-530-0877
barak@idi.org.il